Sign for window or the like



June 20, 1967 w. M. SWARTZ 3,325,936

SIGN FOR WINDOW OR THE LIKE Filed Aug. 25, 1964 INVENTOR ILLIAM M SwA United States Patent 3,325,936 SIGN FOR WINDOW (3R THE LIKE William M. Swartz, 195 Ivy Lane, Highland Park, Ill. 60035 Filed Aug. 25, 1964, Ser. No. 391,870 2 Claims. (Cl. 40-132) This invention relates generally to signs, and more particularly to an illuminated sign for a window or the like.

Ordinarily, when an illuminated sign is mounted in a window, it is desirable, and often necessary, to keep the face of the sign away from the pane of the window. There are various reasons for this. For example, the sign presents a more attractive appearance when its face is spaced from the window pane, in addition to the fact that the window pane is more easily cleaned. Also, when the sign face is spaced from the window, the sign face is less likely to be scratched. Furthermore, where the window is an outside one, a space between the sign face and window pane prevents a significant amount of heat from the light source within the sign from being transmitted from the sign face to the window pane, which might cause cracking of the window pane, especially when the latter is subjected to low outside temperatures. In the past, the spacing of the sign face from the window pane has been accomplished by riveting bumpers to the sign.

However, in many illuminated signs it is necessary to be able to remove the sign face in order to clean the inside thereof to replace lamp bulbs within the sign, or to repair or replace other electrical components of the sign that are within the housing. Accordingly, screws passing through the sign face and threading into the housing of the sign have been used to provide for removability of the sign face. Sometimes these screws become lost when they are separated from the sign face during the time the sign face is removed from the housing, resulting in inconvenience to the persons working on or using the sign. Moreover, the sign faces are often fabricated of a thin plastic while the housing of the sign is often of metal. As a result, it sometimes happens that the attaching screws for the sign face are tightened too much, causing the sign face to crack. Also, the metal and plastic have different coefiicients of expansion and the screws sometimes inhibit the expansion of the plastic sign face, thus creating another condition that might result in cracking of the sign face.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a sign in which a clamp for removably securing the sign face to the housing and a bumper that keeps the sign face spaced from the window pane are combined into a single unit. Preferably there are several such units on the sign, depending upon the overall size of the sign.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a sign of the type stated which reduces the possibility of the sign face cracking due to different rates of expansion of the sign face and housing, or due to excessive tightening of attaching screws since the present invention eliminates the use of attaching screws that pass through the sign face.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide a sign of the type stated in which no part of the sign face attaching clamp need be completely removed from the sign, thereby reducing the possibility of some of the parts of the sign becoming lost.

The attainment of the above and further objects of the present invention will be apparent from the following specification taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing forming a part thereof.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of an illuminated sign ice constructed in accordance with and embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view, on an enlarged scale, taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along line 33 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along line 44 of FIG. 2.

Referring now in more detail to the drawing, 1 designates an illuminated sign comprising a housing 2 of sheet metal or the like. The housing 2 has a back wall 3, side walls 5, 6, and top and bottom walls 7, 8. The forward margins of the walls 5, 6, 7, 8 define a front opening 10 into the interior of the housing 2. A suitable light source may be mounted within the housing. In the present embodiment of the invention sockets 11, 12 are mounted on the side walls 5, 6 for receiving a fluorescent lamp 13. A ballast 15 for the lamp 13 may be secured within the housing 2 to the back wall 3, and a starter socket 16 may be secured to the top wall 7 for removably receiving a starter 18 that projects through the top wall 7 for convenience in removal and replacement. The lamp 13, ballast 15, and starter 18 are wired together in a conventional manner.

The front opening 10 is closed by a sign face 20' that is preferably a thin wall member fabricated of a suitable translucent material, which may, by way of example but not of limitation, be a high impact strength polystyrene. At its open end, the sign face 28 has a continuous peripheral flange 21 that is companion-shaped to the walls 5, 6, 7, 8 adjacent to the opening 10 and telescopes over the walls 5, 6, 7, 8 thereat. Also on the sign face 20 opposite to the free end of the flange 21 is a peripherally continuous shoulder 22 which abuts the edges of the walls 5, 6, 7, 8. The sign face 20' has an end wall 23 upon which suitable legible indicia is imprinted, for example individual letters or designs in the several raised areas 25. The other portions of the wall 23 may also be ornamented or have legible indicia and indicia may appear also on one or more of the intersecting walls 25, 27, if desired.

The sign face 20 is removably secured to the housing 2 by combination bumper and clamping assemblies generally designated at 28, 29, 30, 31, all of which are of the same construction. In the present embodiment of the invention, there are four such assemblies, two associated with each of the top and bottom walls 7, 8. However, there may be a greater or lesser number of such assemblies depending upon the size and shape of the sign.

Each assembly comprises a bracket 33 in the form of a strip of metal which is secured flush against the top or bottom wall 7, 8, as the case may be, by a sheet metal screw 34. One end 35 of the bracket 33 is bent downwardly over the back Wall 3 to keep the bracket from turning when it is in its secured or sign face-holding position. Adjacent to the front opening 10 each bracket of the assembly has an inverted U-shaped bend or recess 37 which receives an outwardly formed, generally U-shaped projection 38 that is on the peripheral flange 21. The projections 38 on the flange 21 are, of course, so located that when the sign face 20 is in proper closed position over the opening 10, the projections 38 will be in alignment with the U-shaped bends 37 of the respective brackets 33,

The brackets 33 each have an extension 36 forwardly of the bend 37 that projects beyond the end wall 23 and the extensions 36 may have their ends covered with plastic sleeves 39 for abutment with the window pane 41, or the like. Thus, the bracket extensions 36 constitute bumpers that hold the sign such that the face of the sign is spaced from the window pane 41, and preferably such that the end wall 23 is substantially parallel to the window pane 41.

The sign may be suspended adjacent to the window in any suitable manner. For example, a chain 42 may have its opposite ends attached to the top wall 7 with the chain being supported in a conventional manner above the window pane 41 so as to allow the sign to hang in a position sufficiently close to the window pane 41 that the sleeved ends of the brackets 33 will abut the window pane 4-1.

When it is desired to remove the sign face 20, the screws 34- may bevloosened an amount sufficient to allow the bracket 33 to be lifted or swung out of engagement with the projections 38 whereupon the sign face 20 may be removed from the housing 2. The sign face is reattached to the housing by placing it over the opening 10, bringing the brackets 33 into engagement with the projections 38, and then tightening the screws 34.-Where the bracket or the material of the sign face or both are sufficiently resilient within their elastic limits, the two may be disengaged and reengaged without the necessity of loosening the screws 34.

In compliance with the requirements of the patent statutes 1 have herein shown and described a preferred embodiment of the invention. It is, however, to be understood that the inventi-on is not limited to the precise con struction herein shown, the same being merely illustrative of the principles of the invention. What is considered new and sought to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A sign comprising a housing having an opening at one side, a light source within the housing, a sign face telescoping with the housing for closing said opening, said sign face being light pervious and containing indicia displayed by the sign, brackets on the housing, means on the part of the sign face that telescopes with the housing for engaging the brackets to retain the sign face on the housing, means by which the brackets may be moved out of retentive engagement with said means on the sign face to permit removal of the sign face from the housing, said brackets extending beyond the sign face and constituting bumpers for engagement with the surface of a window or V l the like to hold the sign face in spaced relation to the surface when the sign is suspended adjacent to said surface.

2. A sign comprising a housing havingan opening at one side, a light source within the housing, means for suspending the housing from a support, a sign face closing said housing, said sign face being light pervious and containing indicia displayed by the sign, said sign face having a peripheral flange that telescopes with the housing atthe opening and shoulder means abutting the housing at said opening, and means for removably securing the sign face to the housing; said means comprising integrally formed projections on the flange, brackets on the housing, each of which is deformed to provide a recess for interfitting reception of one of said projections, and means for attaching the brackets to the housing in a manner to maintain the projections in the recesses and said means being operable to loosen the brackets to enable them to be moved relative to the projections so that the projections can be withdrawn from said recesses to permit the sign face to be withdrawn from the housing, each bracket having a part thereof that extends in a direction away from said opening beyond the sign face to constitute a bumper for engagement with the surface of a window or the like when the sign is suspended adjacent to the surface.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,288,706 7/1942 Herr 40-l28 X 2,782,540 2/1957 Jacobs 40-l28 X 2,847,781 8/1958 Van den Berg 40132 3,076,277 2/1963 Maze 40-l30 FOREIGN PATENTS 249,222 3/1926 Great Britain.

LAWRENCE CHARLES, Primary Examiner,

HERBERT F. ROSS, Examiner. 

1. A SIGN COMPRISING A HOUSING HAVING AN OPENING AT ONE SIDE, A LIGHT SOURCE WITHIN THE HOUSING, A SIGN FACE TELESCOPING WITH THE HOUSING FOR CLOSING SAID OPENING, SAID SIGN FACE BEING LIGHT PERVIOUS AND CONTAINING INDICIA DISPLAYED BY THE SIGN, BRACKETS ON THE HOUSING, MEANS ON THE PART OF THE SIGN FACE THAT TELESCOPES WITH THE HOUSING FOR ENGAGING THE BRACKETS TO RETAIN THE SIGN FACE ON THE HOUSING, MEANS BY WHICH THE BRACKETS MAY BE MOVED OUT OF RETENTIVE ENGAGEMENT WITH SAID MEANS ON THE SIGN FACE TO PERMIT REMOVAL OF THE SIGN FACE FROM THE HOUSING, SAID BRACKETS EXTENDING BEYOND THE SIGN FACE AND CONSTITUTING BUMPERS FOR ENGAGING WITH THE SURFACE OF A WINDOR OR THE LIKE TO HOLD THE SIGN FACE IN SPACED RELATION TO THE SURFACE WHEN THE SIGN IS SUSPENDED ADJACENT TO SAID SURFACE. 